The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-03-11
THE GOVERNMENT CLERK.
why There rs So Much Unsatisfnc-
tory Work I'm the Departments ut
washfngton-Ageda and Help
less EMPLOYEES

the Otner uay DccduSc ulteT lWenly
years service under the government he
saw nothing for his old age but the
poor-house writes Washington CORE
spondent of The Mitadelphia Record.
This little incident has drawn the at
tenton of the thoughtful, (tllere are
thoughtful people in Washington,
though You might not think iD anew to
a problem which must be solved before
Il stable civil service, with all the i'm
provements in administration which
that would make possible, can be es-
tablished. The just reason why the
public service here in Washington does
not get better men and better work out
of the men it has got is that ii does not
offer career to those that enter it.
Almost all the younger men and all
the younger women in the departments
here are simply waiting for something
to turn up-something better, OF course,
than that which they've got. Some Of
them are trying to make straight paths
for themselves out of the government
service into the world of affairs. These
are the more capable, or. ut least, the
more ambitious few. The many are
just dreaming along from day 10 day
waiting for fairy gifts and meanwhile
wasting their time in framing the wish
es which they will make when the FAIRIES
arrive. The man who looks upon the
position he holds in the public service
rs the opening of a career is so
rare that | have never met him.
Consequently, rs n general rule the
government clerk does his work per-
functorily, spends his salary heedlessly,
and lets the future take care of itself
in a sublime and yet audacious conf
dence that it VII. When he discovers
himself growing old in the service his
illusions begin to vanish, and he soon
finds himself looking forward to the
future with dread and distrust which
are the very opposites of reckless con-
iidence which he had made the fabric
of so many dreams. Strange rs 1t
may seem, there are many old men in
he executive departments. most of
whom have grown old in the govern
ment service. | heard the other day
of the appointment to clerkship OF u
man who had passed the three-score
and ten M lesone, but such = case does
not occur often. The gray heads
in the different bureaus of the
government came into them rs II gen
ernl rule before the war or during the
war as brown or rs black MS yours.
Most Of these old men are unfit for
on the roll, reporting for duty every
day that they are able and performing
such portion of their tasks rs Their
feeble hands can grasp And when
promotion is to be made from one
Grade to another the oldest man IN the
lower grade is the man who is most
likely TO get the position. There is
really no other way except to dismiss
the poor old fellows outright. but that
even the new officials hesitate to do.
They can not steel themselves TO the
painfal duty of cutting off the only
means by which these men can
live. But. nevertheless, these men are
so much dead ood-stumbling-block
in the way of better men.
They ought to be swept out of SIGHT.
They neither work themselves nor give
others chance to work. President
Arthur saw plainly what so many other
public men fail TO see, that you can not
secure Il permanent business like civil
service by simply guarding the en-
trance to it. You must guarantee the
possibility of career in ID with n due
provision for the old age which must
essentially close every career. He saw
thaL stable civil service demands -
civil-pension list Not that he adyocat-
cd a evil pension list II will he Il
long while--a week after never. ] trust
before any American statesman adj
vocatcs that. But he saw that govern
ment clerks. like other men aud wo-
men, must feel reasonably sure of the
future in order to work sat sfactorily
and conteniedly in the present. They
must IN other words. feel assured that
after serving the government for TWEEN
ty or thirty or forty years they will not
be turned out to starve on the scantY
savings of their scanty salaries. Mr..
James &. Thompson, an old Phladel-
phian, has thought out plan which
seems TO me to afford n better remedy
for the difficulty have Indicated than
any other have heard of. His idea is
to establish. by authority of congress
and under the supervis on Of the heads
of departments, ciyil-service msur-
ence and pension association, made up
of all OF the olliccholdcrs in any gov
ernment Ollie, in the United States who
choose to belong to it, He would
have them agree that per cent of
their respective salaries should
be deducted at the first of every month